Stolen items show up at tag sale down the street

Griswold – Two Norwich residents who police say stole $12,000 worth of items from a Soule Street home on July 1, then had some of the items sold at a yard sale on the same street a few days later, witnesses told police.

The town's resident state trooper was able to trace the break-in to the pair after acquaintances of the two told police they saw them leave the 14 Soule St. house carrying duffle bags "full of stuff."

State police charged Joseph Paolino, 45, of 66 Woods Drive, Norwich on March 5 with first-degree larceny, third-degree burglary and second-degree criminal mischief. He is currently being held on a $75,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Norwich Superior Court again Friday.

Malissa Genovese, 33, of 204 Scotland Road, Norwich was charged Saturday with first-degree larceny, third-degree burglary and second-degree criminal mischief in the case. She was arraigned Monday and released on a $25,000 bond. She is scheduled to appear in court again on May 16.

State Police Trooper Adam Chittick, who said in the affidavit for the arrest warrants that he is familiar with the suspects and the witnesses, said he responded to a call on July 1 by real estate agent Don Miller, who had planned to show the house to potential buyers.

When Miller opened the door, he saw that items had been thrown about and the back door had been kicked in.

The owners, who were living in Massachusetts, returned July 3 and told police about $12,000 worth of items had been stolen, including appliances, bed linens, towels, jewelry, clothes and yard furniture, including a white wicker bench and a lion statue. Police identified those two items at a yard sale at another Soule Street address.

One acquaintance of the two suspects stopped at the house and told the owner she thought she knew who had broken into the house. The woman told police Paolino had asked her boyfriend to "do a job with him." She said her boyfriend refused. The same female witness told police she was walking past the house and saw Genovese and Paolino carrying duffle bags, an end table and a carpet cleaner from the house.

Another acquaintance told Chittick that he and Paolino would ride home from work together and Paolino said he broke into houses and sold items at a Rhode Island pawn shop.

Chittick wrote in the arrest warrant application that the woman who hosted the yard sale associates with both suspects. She told police she knew nothing of the burglary and refused to give a written statement. Her husband told Chittick the wicker bench and lion showed up at the yard sale while he had gone to church that day.